The Picori - There and Back Again
by ToastVolk
Summary: Author's Note: After reading Serpent Tailed Angel's Child of Darkness, I decided to take upon myself my own attempt at a redeemed Vaati story. The world that contains this story will take place based loosely upon the events of the Minish Cap, as well as its respective manga, but with a unique but experimental twist. Please, do not be afraid to give constructive criticism.


**Author's Note:** After reading Serpent Tailed Angel's _Child of Darkness_ , I decided to take upon myself my own attempt at a redeemed Vaati story. The world that contains this story will take place based loosely upon the events of the _Minish Cap,_ as well as its respective manga,but with a unique twist. This is a very experimental and spur of the moment series, but I find I have the most passion in these types of writings. Based upon the reviews for these works, I shall see if _The Picori_ is a series worth writing to the end. Please, do enjoy and be sure to give constructive feedback so that I may improve this series for all of you. Thank you!

 **Note:** __The following is a passage to introduce the reader to the story and setting of our tale. If you wish to jump right into the story itself, skip to the next line.

Enter the Picori, the small and reclusive Elf-like people dotted across Hyrule as well as the continent abroad. Using their tiny stature and elusive magic spells, these often ant-sized beings excel in the art of hiding and refraining from civilizations built by creatures many times their own size, and for good reason! In past ages, the Picori were often prized for their soft skin, appealing looks, and dexterous attributes. As a result, the Picori suffered generations of tribulation and tragedy.

Yet from these bloodied times came legends and tales, and from legends and tales came exaggerations and children's tales, and from exaggerations and children's tales came myths and superstitions that spread among the minds of the descendants of these troubled Picori. One such mythos, which dwells upon prophecies and forewarnings of the end times, goes as follows:

" _In the last days of this world, there shall come forth a beast of crimson eyes and lavender skin and hair. He will be of Picori blood, yet will have the sinister demeanor of a spawn from the depths of the inferno. The darkness he will be consumed by, and become a true harbinger of evil to swallow the whole known world into the depths of never ending Tartarus."_

For a thousand or more years, this legend was passed down among villages and clans across the Picori, who became terrified and superstitious at this tale. Yet with the passing of time, the superstitions and fears of the Picori became null with the rise of skepticism, until only a few highly conservative clans and villages still held stock in the old tales.

One such village would be confronted with one of their worst superstitions, as a craftswoman and a merchant would soon marry and have a child who fit the description of the end times harbinger. His red crimson eyes and lavender skin and silky violet hair gave a grave warning to everyone in the village. In shame and spite, the parents named the child Vaati, and soon cast him aside like a clump of dirt. Neglected and abused young Vaati was, until at the tender age of three (in Hylian years) his parents cast him out in the cold snow and left him to die. Alas, Vaati did not die, but was subjected to the brutal cold for a grueling week until an elderly Picori by the name of Ezlo took the young boy in to his home. At last, Vaati found a comfortable home and a parental figure to look up to, but his troubles were far from over.

With the passing of years came the aging and training of Vaati, the former of which Vaati enjoyed as his increasing age made him more adapt to the world, the latter of which he eagerly participated in in order to please Ezlo. Cooking, crafting, magic, Vaati did it all to make his father figure happy. All of these things Vaati was indeed shrewd in.

But alas, Ezlo knew the superstitious prophecy all too well, and had little love for Vaati not regarding his goals into making Vaati his personal tool. With years of maturity and spite on Ezlo's part, Vaati eventually realized this fact, and began to grow cold towards his master. The love and dedication that the young boy had fell to heartbreak and spitefulness through the rough years, and this grew until at the age of fifteen (in Hylian years) Vaati betrayed his master and stole a sacred cap of great power, before abandoning his master to make a criminal career. With all love and compassion in Vaati seemingly gone, his new goal was to conquer the world and cast it into darkness as its "punishment" for subjecting him to such a rough childhood. And here the irony is shown, whereas the prophecy was fulfilled only through the Picori's beliefs and superstitions of it. Alas, this fact was droll to Vaati, who soon began his studies on an essence known as the Light force, and desired it to complete the potential of his magical power. In his studies, he learned that the Light force could only be held in a being of great wisdom and elegance, lest it be corrupted by greed and hatred. With this knowledge, he planned out his grand scheme of taking over Hyrule.

Then, on a particular day of celebration for the Hylian people, Vaati began his wrath when he struck upon this ceremony and destroyed the legendary Picori blade, unleashing monsters of all terrible kinds upon Hyrule. This gave him a personal army, as well as enough time to steal the Light force from Princess Zelda and kidnap her. However, contrary to his plans, Ezlo had gathered a chosen hero by the name of Link to forge a new sacred sword to meet Vaati's threat to the realm. Before Vaati could believe it, the two had already made their way to his very palace to put an end to him once and for all. The sorcerer, mad with power but not irrationally minded, knew he could not defeat the chosen hero at the current rate. Rather, he gave them a temporal victory by freeing Zelda from her petrification and fleeing the palace before it was too late.

That day was a good day for the people of Hyrule. Not only was the sorcerer defeated and the princess returned unscathed, but now the kingdom was blessed by a chosen hero to protect the land in the event Vaati should return to threaten the land again. Ezlo, confident in Link's ability to dispatch of Vaati, left him with a hat to remind him of their adventures, before returning to leave in peace. Vaati meanwhile continued his studies on yet another source of power – the throne of darkness. By defeating a King of Evil, Vaati could claim his power in addition to his own, and become a force strong enough to destroy any oppose him. The only King of Evil Vaati knew of was a Gerudo by the name of Ganondorf Dragmire, His tall stature and overpowering demeanor suited the position he held as the crimelord of Hyrule, as well as the Kingdom's most wanted criminal. Even in the past, the two had their scuffles with Ganondorf coming out on top. Smirking, he knew the task would not be easy, yet suspected that usurping Ganondorf would be something he needed to do in order to secure his position as dark ruler.

And with this decision, Vaati gathered the remnants of his monster army and marched to the Gerudo desert to face the King of Evil and take his power. Unbeknownst to the Minish, this would be the end of his current journey, and the beginning of a new one.

The winds of the arid desert screeched across the floors of the beige dunes, sand traveled in clouds under the bleeding sunlight, the sky above brought down a blue glow to light up the desert and expose the heatwaves that scorched life below its heights. This place was none other than the Gerudo desert, home of the thieves and their king Ganondorf. In this vast dune land, there stood a great sand brick castle where a dark cloud hovered above. Gerudo amazons stood guard at every turn with their long pikes and bows to defend the fort from any threats. The winds of the desert could be heard even through the halls of the inner corridors, and the dining and chattering could be heard every few times a day. This was the fortress that Ganondorf housed himself in, as he played that ominous tune on his organ.

Across from that fortress stood a transformed Vaati upon a large dune hill. Inspecting the defenses of the castle, the wind sorcerer sighed as he turned back to see his loyal army of ferocious monsters behind him, hidden behind the dune. "Not as large as it was before," Vaati mused to himself, "But it will do for this job". He turned back to the castle to see a small army of Gerudos gathering around the front side of the castle. "They must have spotted me by now. Suppose that's the cue to get the battle started." Vaati chuckled before he raised his arms to summon gusts of winds around him before black balls of flame descended upon the Gerudos and devoured them in dark scorching fires. Vaati then raised himself off the ground and began to make his way to the castle, his army of monsters charging behind him to offer supportive attack.

And what a mighty charge it was that Vaati brought upon the castle. First came the flames of darkness that crashed upon the towers, causing the structures to collapse and the warriors inside to burn away. As the sorcerer then charged inside the damaged castle to confront Ganondorf, he cut his way through the Gerudo ranks as his moblins rained down volleys of arrows to thin out the defenses. The Darknuts and Stalfos then came in next to straggle out any remaining forces that Vaati and the archers left behind. A bloody battle it was, and one that the Gerudo could simply not win.

It wasn't long until Vaati found his way to the inner corridors and left his monsters to overwhelm and destroy the remaining Gerudo forces. The long, winding, and damp halls the sorcerer treaded through as he kept a ball of dark fire beside him to incinerate any potential attackers. Through the stone passageways, dim torches were hung upon the walls to give just enough glow that one could see in front of him; whether this was due to deliberate design or pure time and neglect was unknown. Nevertheless, the transformed sorcerer decided to calm his nerves a bit by listening to the sounds outside as he traversed the halls. Besides the sounds of metal clashing and Gerudo amazons screaming as they were destroyed by Vaati's monster horde, Vaati could hear the desert wind calmly whisper through these stonemason depths. This stood in great contrast to the screeching and howling that could be heard in the open desert land.

Overtime however, the whispering of the wind from the outside, and the terrible screams of the battle above where replaced by the ever-loudening echoes of an ominous tune played on an organ. The song in itself wielding a power of pure malice and greed, was doubly amplified by the instrument being used to convey this song, as well as the skill of the organist himself. Vaati knew only one person in the entire realm of Hyrule or her surrounding kingdoms who knew both that song and that instrument well enough to play at that level of perfection, and his name was Ganondorf Dragmire. When Ganon wasn't busy masterminding or carrying out his evil schemes, he could be seen retreated away to the heart of his castle playing his organ and song oftentimes for hours without pause. He smirked as he began to follow the tune that echoed through the corridor, "I must be getting close." Vaati said to himself as he allowed Ganon's sinister notes to guide Vaati to the lair of the Dark Lord.

A moment of this following passed by, until Vaati found himself in a large chamber mostly shrouded in a pitch black darkness so solid that it clamped down upon the very soul of any intruders. Yet, Vaati stood his ground. Just ahead across from him, the transformed sorcerer could see under a row of dim lights a large man sitting upon a wooden bench as he played that tune on the organ over and over again. The man was clad in a huge set of black armor, and his fiery red hair was neatly kept in rolls. Vaati knew it, this was none other than Ganon himself. Finally, the King of Evil ceased his dark tune and allowed a still silence to fall over the two tyrants for several seconds, until he broke the silence himself, "Quite a way to greet a host." Ganondorf smirked dryly and sarcastically. Vaati smirked back before smartly replying, "It's become a sort of specialty of mine. May I ask what your fancy with the organ is?" Ganondorf chuckled, "It helps me meditate after all the stress of being a Lord of Darkness. It really does help unwind." Vaati mused, "I see". Ganondorf then took a moment himself to recognize the voice before curiously asking, "Weren't you the little magic boy that got chased from his own palace a few months ago?" Vaati balled up his fists, _"Little magic boy'? Does this bastard have any clue who I am? Nevermind that, he will be dead soon enough."_ Vaati allowed himself to relax and begin funneling his arcane energy in preparation for the coming fight before nodding, "It is but a minor setback. Once I destroy you, I will take your power and use it to engulf the world in darkness forever." Ganondorf heard this and broke out in a menacing yet disbelieving cackle. "A boy after my own heart, I see. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were my own son." The Dark Lord chuckled before standing up, "Unfortunately, I cannot allow myself to slide into that goodnight so easily. But tell you what, I'll humor you. If you want my power so badly, come and take it from me!"

"Exactly what I intend to do." Vaati smirked before summoning more orbs of dark fire around him.

Ganondorf, rather than responding, simply jerked around to face Vaati. But, as he did so, he delivered a mighty kick to his own wooden bench to send the furniture flying towards Vaati. The sorcerer was quick to react however, and burned the large projectile before it could strike him. Yet, Vaati had little time to bask in this glory, for immediately after this he saw Ganondorf swiftly and mightily descend upon him with a fistful of flames. Quickly reacting, Vaati summoned a wall of darkness around him to deflect Ganondorf's blow; yet Ganondorf gave Vaati little time to recover as he immediately began delivering a barrage of fiery punches that forced Vaati to stay on the defensive. Some seconds of this power lock emerged, before Vaati soon sent a powerful gust of wind blowing towards Ganondorf to send him flying into his own organ. Ganon then fell to his feet before giving a cough and looking up to see Vaati attempting to regain his energy after that bout. Ganondorf nodded, "Most impressive job you've done holding your own against me so far… especially for a little magic boy." He said chuckling evilly before materializing an ethereal blade, "But let's see how you fare without all that magic." Vaati simply ignored this before hurling more balls of dark fire in Ganondorf's direction. This time, Ganondorf simply sliced the orbs in two as they dissipated into thin air one after another. After a few minutes of this, Ganondorf charged forth at lightning speed sending Vaati right back on the defensive. Despite the sorcerer being quite powerful, he felt his energy began to exhaust as he blocked and dodged the mighty blows from the Dark Lord. Would he be able to keep this up for much longer? Would he have to achieve his true demonic form? Could he get snap out of it when it came time? Could he even defeat Ganondorf then or was the fight so far just a warm up for him? All these questions zooming through Vaati's head caused a spur of anger to generate throughout his entire body, giving him enough strength to summon another powerful gust of wind to knock Ganon back. Yet this time, Ganondorf managed to land safely on his feet as he looked up at the tired Vaati, "Almost time. Give me your best shot!" The King of Evil chuckled as he saw Vaati summon a huge ball of dark fire before hurling it his way. At this point, Ganondorf merely held his blade out before thrusting it right into the center of the massive orb. This caused the projectile to turn a bright white before shooting out a loud flurry of electric beams as it shrunk and dissipated. Vaati was struck with several of these bolts before he could react, sending the sorcerer into an intense state of pain and paralysis.

Ganondorf cackled and watched as Vaati attempted to recover from this blow, watching the sorcerer scream and wince in pain as the bright electrocution seemed to fry his entire being from the inside out. In this moment, Vaati was so engulfed in a sea of shocking pain he could not even scream, but rather wince and squirm about as he gritted his teeth. His vision was nothing but seizure-inducing flashings that forced him to close his eyes in hopes that flashing would stop. He began grunting and groaning as his pain was coupled by a strange fleeting feeling, as if something imbued with his soul since birth was now abandoning him. He felt an intense fatigue come over his body as he receded from his fury form to his normal picori form. _"Am I dying? What form of magic is this?"_ Vaati questioned frantically in his head as he slowly collapsed onto the floor before all his strength was drained from him. At this point, he could hardly even breathe or open his eyes, let alone move a muscle. Ganondorf, chuckling, allowed his sword to dissipate before approaching the ball of picori that is now Vaati. The sorcerer could barely open his eyes to see Ganon now towering over him and smiling, before receding into unconsciousness. Ganon laughed, "About what I'd expect." before taking Vaati's cap off of his head and kicking his unconscious body to the side. The battle was over. Ganondorf was victorious.

Moments later, Ganondorf emerged from the corridor to see the courtyard of his castle, only to find that all of his Gerudo troops were slaughtered by the monster hordes that now surrounded him. "Hordes of the Sorcerer Vaati." Ganondorf announced before holding up Vaati's cap, "I am your master now." He chuckled evilly as he then saw the monsters bow before his glory. They were his now, as he had proved himself to be a stronger leader than Vaati. Ganondorf then pointed at two darknuts bowing before him, "You two there! Your former master is my organ hall. Take him far, far away from here. I have a few plans for him." Ganondorf said as the darknuts then stood up and obliged Ganon's orders.

Soon enough, an unconscious Vaati was carried out of the wrecked castle by the same monsters that were loyal to him when they charged into that castle. Alas, such is the cruel ways of fate.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
